The subject matter herein relates generally to ultrasound systems and methods for obtaining data relating to a patient's health and/or anatomy, and more particularly, to ultrasound systems and methods that are configured to obtain dimensional and/or functional data of an anatomical structure.
Healthcare providers may use various types of systems to diagnose medical conditions. For instance, doctors or other qualified individuals may use an ultrasound imaging system to obtain ultrasound images of the heart. Ultrasound images of the heart (also called echocardiograms or “echos”) may show anatomical structures (e.g., ventricles, atria, valves, septum, and the like) as well as blood flow through the heart. An ultrasound image of the heart may be used to measure dimensions of designated structures of the heart to diagnose a medical condition.
In some cases, it may be informative to obtain ultrasound images of an anatomical structure from different time periods and compare the ultrasound images. For instance, an echocardiogram of a patient's heart after treatment may be compared to a baseline ultrasound image that was obtained before treatment. Such comparison may assist in determining whether and to what extent the patient is responding to treatment. As a specific example, cardiovascular mortality and morbidity increases with increasing values of left ventricular (LV) mass. Left-ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a thickening of the myocardium of the left ventricle that is also associated with cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. After obtaining ultrasound images from different time periods, a measurement of the myocardium obtained before treatment can be compared to a measurement of the myocardium obtained after treatment to determine whether the LV mass or LVH has reduced.
However, the value of the comparison may be adversely affected if the different ultrasound images show views of the heart that are not sufficiently comparable. Accordingly, a doctor's diagnosis may be inaccurate and/or the subsequent decisions regarding treatment of the patient may be affected.